Turtle Tuesday: Amazon River Turtle Hatchlings!

We’re excited to share that four big-headed Amazon River turtles have hatched in our Amazon River Forest exhibit.

Published October 21, 2014

The big-headed Amazon River turtle, Peltocephalus dumerilianus, is a semi-aquatic, omnivorous species found in areas of Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Venezuela and Ecuador. While this species is rarely seen in living collections, two Amazon big-headed turtles have lived in the Aquarium’s Amazon River Forest exhibit since 2003.

Like many aquatic turtles, the big-headed Amazon River turtle lays its eggs on land. Toward the end of May, Aquarium staff discovered that our female turtle had buried a clutch of eggs in the exhibit’s soil.

National Aquarium Herpetologist C.J. Weaver transferred the eggs to an incubator where they could be carefully monitored. To ensure the eggs developed properly, conditions in the incubator were adjusted to mimic those of a wild nest.

The eggs were incubated for about 100 days, and by early September, four hatchlings had emerged! The small turtles are thriving on a diet of earthworms, fish and small crickets.

It’s believed that this is the first time big-headed Amazon River turtles have been successfully bred in a North American collection. The event will provide important insights regarding incubation techniques for this species in the future.